Read both. This is fascinating. Notes:

- 1 on 1 tutoring yields about 2 standard deviations of improvement, but costs too much.

- The Alpha system is very effective but costs about $40,000/student.

- It's not that complicated. 2-3 hours a day of intense computer-monitored study, about half using off the shelf tools, and the rest of the day is developed to less structured projects. This is a useful insight. Push kids hard for about 2-3 hours a day and then get to the fun stuff.

- Works on ordinary kids. Strong claims in this area. Needs outside validation.

- Lots of carrot, including cash payments for achievement. Not much stick.

- Staff/student ratio about 1:5. No teachers from bottom quartile of teacher population.